We would usually recommend spending more on the CD than the amp or speakers. Is this good advice?

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the What HiFi community: the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products.

MeanandGreen

Well-known member
Dec 26, 2012
149
69
18,670
Visit site
prospero108 said:
I am in the process of upgrading my system and during exchanges with various dealers one stated the line above. This was a bit of a surprise to me what do others think?

Chris

I would advise you ignore any further advice from that particular dealer.

Digital sources are highly capable in the modern age. I'd spend as much as possible on your speakers & then the amplifier.
 

Thompsonuxb

New member
Feb 19, 2012
125
0
0
Visit site
Buy the best source possible is what I'd recommend.....don't scrimp in this area.

Be it analog or digital - poor amp and poor speakers can sound 'nice' with a good source.

Poor source with a poor amp and poor speakers will just sound poor.

Better amps and speakers will also sound much better with a good source.

A poor source will just strangle any quality -making any investment in decent kit a waste.

The advise is good.
 

Thompsonuxb

New member
Feb 19, 2012
125
0
0
Visit site
lindsayt said:
Thompsonuxb, what makes you think you can't buy a relatively good sounding CD player for £15?

What makes you think I think that?

Fact is he may well buy a 'good' CDplayer for that but he'll get a far better one for 250quid Better still 500quid and so on.

But this argument is really silly if everyone is suggesting a basic player/source is all you need for 'real' hi fidelity playback.

The fact is the old 'rubbish in rubbish out' IS still valid.
 

steve_1979

Well-known member
Jul 14, 2010
231
10
18,795
Visit site
Thompsonuxb said:
Buy the best source possible is what I'd recommend.....don't scrimp in this area.

Be it analog or digital - poor amp and poor speakers can sound 'nice' with a good source.

Poor source with a poor amp and poor speakers will just sound poor.

Better amps and speakers will also sound much better with a good source.

A poor source will just strangle any quality -making any investment in decent kit a waste.

The advise is good.

Lol. He's at it again. Don't bite people.
 

davedotco

New member
Apr 24, 2013
20
1
0
Visit site
Thompsonuxb said:
lindsayt said:
Thompsonuxb, what makes you think you can't buy a relatively good sounding CD player for £15?

What makes you think I think that?

Fact is he may well buy a 'good' CDplayer for that but he'll get a far better one for 250quid Better still 500quid and so on.

But this argument is really silly if everyone is suggesting a basic player/source is all you need for 'real' hi fidelity playback.

The fact is the old 'rubbish in rubbish out' IS still valid.

... and what have you done with him.

Very sensible and straightforward post, There are differences in digital source and particularly CD players. Better ones are worth while though, however cost is not any great indicator of quality.

Modern dacs can sort out a lot of issues but getting the data off the disc remains pivotal. My own experience tells me that transports do differ in quality which I put down to factors such as disc eccentricity, vibration and the limitations of laser servos.

Playback of downloaded files is a whole different matter, a decent streamer can be set up to output bit perfect data and a proper dac will reject any noise and sort out any timing issues. The only thing odd about this are the rediculous prices hi-fi companies charge for dedicated streamers.
 

lpv

New member
Mar 14, 2013
47
0
0
Visit site
davedotco said:
Thompsonuxb said:
lindsayt said:
Thompsonuxb, what makes you think you can't buy a relatively good sounding CD player for £15?

What makes you think I think that?

Fact is he may well buy a 'good' CDplayer for that but he'll get a far better one for 250quid Better still 500quid and so on.

But this argument is really silly if everyone is suggesting a basic player/source is all you need for 'real' hi fidelity playback.

The fact is the old 'rubbish in rubbish out' IS still valid.

... and what have you done with him.

Very sensible and straightforward post, There are differences in digital source and particularly CD players. Better ones are worth while though, however cost is not any great indicator of quality.

Modern dacs can sort out a lot of issues but getting the data off the disc remains pivotal. My own experience tells me that transports do differ in quality which I put down to factors such as disc eccentricity, vibration and the limitations of laser servos.

Playback of downloaded files is a whole different matter, a decent streamer can be set up to output bit perfect data and a proper dac will reject any noise and sort out any timing issues. The only thing odd about this are the rediculous prices hi-fi companies charge for dedicated streamers.

auralic aries mini, pioneer n50 or cambridge.. I wouldn't call them expensive.

naim, cyrus or linn streamers for that matter won't bring anything above mentioned auralic, pioneer or cambridge ( will even take usb playback or airplay away) and will cost 4 times as much but buying streamers from these audio cowboys who used to have cable shaking machine in their factory?

blasphemy
 

steve_1979

Well-known member
Jul 14, 2010
231
10
18,795
Visit site
matt49 said:
steve_1979 said:
Don't bite people.

Steve, I think you need a comma in there. Just saying.

latest
 

Thompsonuxb

New member
Feb 19, 2012
125
0
0
Visit site
steve_1979 said:
Thompsonuxb said:
Buy the best source possible is what I'd recommend.....don't scrimp in this area.

Be it analog or digital - poor amp and poor speakers can sound 'nice' with a good source.

Poor source with a poor amp and poor speakers will just sound poor.

Better amps and speakers will also sound much better with a good source.

A poor source will just strangle any quality -making any investment in decent kit a waste.

The advise is good.

Lol. He's at it again. Don't bite people.

What's there to bite?

Seriously, I'm sitting here trying to workout how you lot can disagree with the advise given to the OP.

A Audiolab 8200CD with a marantz 6005 with Dali1 speakers will work better than a Marantz cd6005 on a Hegel 360 with ATC 1xxx (some good ones).....

What's there to argue?
 

lpv

New member
Mar 14, 2013
47
0
0
Visit site
Thompsonuxb said:
steve_1979 said:
Thompsonuxb said:
Buy the best source possible is what I'd recommend.....don't scrimp in this area.

Be it analog or digital - poor amp and poor speakers can sound 'nice' with a good source.

Poor source with a poor amp and poor speakers will just sound poor.

Better amps and speakers will also sound much better with a good source.

A poor source will just strangle any quality -making any investment in decent kit a waste.

The advise is good.

Lol. He's at it again. Don't bite people.

What's there to bite?

Seriously, I'm sitting here trying to workout how you lot can disagree with the advise given to the OP.

A Audiolab 8200CD with a marantz 6005 with Dali1 speakers will work better than a Marantz cd6005 on a Hegel 360 with ATC 1xxx (some good ones).....

What's there to argue?

sorry, but you talk ****
 

radiorog

Well-known member
Jan 1, 2013
149
21
18,595
Visit site
A very good CD player can be picked up for £300. This would work very well with an amp at £3000 and speakers the same (£3000). So no, spend less on a CD player, but get a good one. Like mine ;-)
 

Thompsonuxb

New member
Feb 19, 2012
125
0
0
Visit site
lpv said:
Thompsonuxb said:
steve_1979 said:
Thompsonuxb said:
Buy the best source possible is what I'd recommend.....don't scrimp in this area.

Be it analog or digital - poor amp and poor speakers can sound 'nice' with a good source.

Poor source with a poor amp and poor speakers will just sound poor.

Better amps and speakers will also sound much better with a good source.

A poor source will just strangle any quality -making any investment in decent kit a waste.

The advise is good.

Lol. He's at it again. Don't bite people.

What's there to bite?

Seriously, I'm sitting here trying to workout how you lot can disagree with the advise given to the OP.

A Audiolab 8200CD with a marantz 6005 with Dali1 speakers will work better than a Marantz cd6005 on a Hegel 360 with ATC 1xxx (some good ones).....

What's there to argue?

sorry, but you talk ****

Lol......

No do better than that, try stringing a sentence together, c'mon explain the sh#t to me.......
 

Thompsonuxb

New member
Feb 19, 2012
125
0
0
Visit site
radiorog said:
 A very good CD player can be picked up for £300. This would work very well with an amp at £3000 and speakers the same (£3000). So no, spend less on a CD player, but get a good one. Like mine ;-) 

This is good advise.....
 

radiorog

Well-known member
Jan 1, 2013
149
21
18,595
Visit site
Thompsonuxb said:
steve_1979 said:
Thompsonuxb said:
Buy the best source possible is what I'd recommend.....don't scrimp in this area.

Be it analog or digital - poor amp and poor speakers can sound 'nice' with a good source.

Poor source with a poor amp and poor speakers will just sound poor.

Better amps and speakers will also sound much better with a good source.

A poor source will just strangle any quality -making any investment in decent kit a waste.

The advise is good.

Lol. He's at it again. Don't bite people.

What's there to bite?

Seriously, I'm sitting here trying to workout how you lot can disagree with the advise given to the OP.

A Audiolab 8200CD with a marantz 6005 with Dali1 speakers will work better than a Marantz cd6005 on a Hegel 360 with ATC 1xxx (some good ones).....

What's there to argue?

Um, wow!

I would love that latter system with the Hegel and ATC, even with a cheaper marantz its going to sound superb.

The first system, well, yeah..........

I think if you honestly believe what you say, you should go and listen to some different gear.?
 

radiorog

Well-known member
Jan 1, 2013
149
21
18,595
Visit site
Thompsonuxb said:
radiorog said:
A very good CD player can be picked up for £300. This would work very well with an amp at £3000 and speakers the same (£3000). So no, spend less on a CD player, but get a good one. Like mine ;-)

This is good advise.....

Now I just feel bad for my last post criticising your otherpost. But you now agree spend less on the digital source?
 

MajorFubar

New member
Mar 3, 2010
690
7
0
Visit site
Thompsonuxb said:
lpv said:
Thompsonuxb said:
steve_1979 said:
Thompsonuxb said:
Buy the best source possible is what I'd recommend.....don't scrimp in this area.

Be it analog or digital - poor amp and poor speakers can sound 'nice' with a good source.

Poor source with a poor amp and poor speakers will just sound poor.

Better amps and speakers will also sound much better with a good source.

A poor source will just strangle any quality -making any investment in decent kit a waste.

The advise is good.

Lol. He's at it again. Don't bite people.

What's there to bite?

Seriously, I'm sitting here trying to workout how you lot can disagree with the advise given to the OP.

A Audiolab 8200CD with a marantz 6005 with Dali1 speakers will work better than a Marantz cd6005 on a Hegel 360 with ATC 1xxx (some good ones).....

What's there to argue?

sorry, but you talk ****

Lol......

No do better than that, try stringing a sentence together, c'mon explain the sh#t to me.......

Allow me to try. Comparatively speaking there's so little difference between the sound from a £20 Matsui DVD player from Argos and a £1,000 CD player that the money is better invested in another part of the system that makes a bigger difference, firstly the speakers then the amp. Bear in mind I'm not really suggesting he buys a £20 DVD player from Argos instead of at least a half decent CD player, just exaggerating the issue for sake of example. If we were talking turntables and not digital sources, your advice would probably be bang on the money, but digital levelled the playing field so much the rule books got torn up.
 

Vladimir

New member
Dec 26, 2013
220
7
0
Visit site
"Humans are pattern-seeking story-telling animals, and we are quite adept at telling stories about patterns, whether they exist or not." - Michael Shermer
 

Thompsonuxb

New member
Feb 19, 2012
125
0
0
Visit site
radiorog said:
Thompsonuxb said:
radiorog said:
 A very good CD player can be picked up for £300. This would work very well with an amp at £3000 and speakers the same (£3000). So no, spend less on a CD player, but get a good one. Like mine ;-)?

This is good advise.....

 Now I just feel bad for my last post criticising your otherpost.  But you now agree spend less on the digital source?

 

This is embarrassing - I miss read you, must be the time of night.

For some reason I assumed you were suggesting buying used......don't know why....

But if your happy with your combo.......
 
K

keeper of the quays

Guest
MajorFubar said:
Thompsonuxb said:
lpv said:
Thompsonuxb said:
steve_1979 said:
Thompsonuxb said:
Buy the best source possible is what I'd recommend.....don't scrimp in this area.

Be it analog or digital - poor amp and poor speakers can sound 'nice' with a good source.

Poor source with a poor amp and poor speakers will just sound poor.

Better amps and speakers will also sound much better with a good source.

A poor source will just strangle any quality -making any investment in decent kit a waste.

The advise is good.

Lol. He's at it again. Don't bite people.

What's there to bite?

Seriously, I'm sitting here trying to workout how you lot can disagree with the advise given to the OP.

A Audiolab 8200CD with a marantz 6005 with Dali1 speakers will work better than a Marantz cd6005 on a Hegel 360 with ATC 1xxx (some good ones).....

What's there to argue?

sorry, but you talk ****

Lol......

No do better than that, try stringing a sentence together, c'mon explain the sh#t to me.......

Allow me to try. Comparatively speaking there's so little difference between the sound from a £20 Matsui DVD player from Argos and a £1,000 CD player that the money is better invested in another part of the system that makes a bigger difference, firstly the speakers then the amp. Bear in mind I'm not really suggesting he buys a £20 DVD player from Argos instead of at least a half decent CD player, just exaggerating the issue for sake of example. If we were talking turntables and not digital sources, your advice would probably be bang on the money, but digital levelled the playing field so much the rule books got torn up.
is a streamer better than a cd player? I have these higher settings on my dac and im wondering how i access them? If i plugged a streamer into it? Would i get higher setting? On cd dac says 44.1 on optical it says 48..from tv (youtube)
 

Blacksabbath25

Well-known member
Sep 20, 2015
309
88
10,970
Visit site
I think the amp and speakers + CD player are the building blocks of a good Hifi so it's very important to get this part right first so for me I will spend the biggest part of my budget on speakers + amp + CD player in this order but the reason I would spend the same amount on the CD player is mainly for its onboard dac sound quality as well as the quality of the construction and components but manly I think the amp + speakers are more important then anything else
 

Thompsonuxb

New member
Feb 19, 2012
125
0
0
Visit site
radiorog said:
Thompsonuxb said:
steve_1979 said:
Thompsonuxb said:
Buy the best source possible is what I'd recommend.....don't scrimp in this area.

Be it analog or digital - poor amp and poor speakers can sound 'nice' with a good source.

Poor source with a poor amp and poor speakers will just sound poor.

Better amps and speakers will also sound much better with a good source.

A poor source will just strangle any quality -making any investment in decent kit a waste.

The advise is good.

Lol. He's at it again. Don't bite people.

What's there to bite?

Seriously, I'm sitting here trying to workout how you lot can disagree with the advise given to the OP.

A Audiolab 8200CD with a marantz 6005 with Dali1 speakers will work better than a Marantz cd6005 on a Hegel 360 with ATC 1xxx (some good ones).....

What's there to argue?

 Um, wow!

 I would love that latter system with the Hegel and ATC, even with a cheaper marantz its going to sound superb.

 The first system, well, yeah..........

 I think if you honestly believe what you say, you should go and listen to some different gear.?

...... This makes no sense. Listen to different gear.....why?
 

TRENDING THREADS